Adoptions Help Fire Stations

LUIS F. PEREZ & RHONDA J. MILLER On The Beat

May 7, 2006|LUIS F. PEREZ & RHONDA J. MILLER

Friends of firefighters ... The Woodfield Country Club Homeowners Association and the Woodfield Hunt Club Homeowners Association were among the first to join Boca Raton's "Adopt-a-Firehouse" program. They gave $4,000 in June 2004 to help launch the program and another $2,000 last year.

They gave a third time April 25, again $2,000.

City fire officials are encouraging businesses and homeowners' associations to adopt fire stations through annual donations to enhance services and improve living conditions for firefighters. The Woodfield group adopted the Richard H. Muehlberg Fire Station Seven at 3001 W. Yamato Road.

Thefire station staff responded to a stove fire at Woodfield on April 28, three days after the most recent donation..

Firefighters arrived minutes after receiving the call and found the fire in a kitchen wall behind the stove. They put it out before it spread to the second floor. Fire officials estimated the damage at $40,000.

Shoreline survey washes out ... Highland Beach commissioners voted down a proposed shoreline erosion survey recommended by the Beaches and Shores Advisory Board. Four commissioners voted against the $2,000 study Tuesday, with only Commissioner Rachel Scala-Pistone supporting the proposal for more detailed information about the condition of the town's 3-mile oceanfront.

"I've lived in Highland Beach for 23 years and I've watched the shoreline come and go," Mayor Harold Hagelmann said to support his opinion that the study isn't necessary.

The results disturbed Lucy Miller, chairwoman of the town Beaches and Shores Advisory Board, who wasn't present for the vote, but heard the results later.

"For the insignificant amount of $2,000 in a town as wealthy as Highland Beach, it seems irresponsible for the commissioners not to at least find what the condition of the beach truly is," Miller said Wednesday. The study would provide information to state environmental officials and could be helpful in getting funds for beach renourishment, Miller said.

"The study had a dual purpose: To find out if our beach is critically eroded, and if it is, to find out what we need to do next," she said. "This is Plan A. There is no Plan B."

But she didn't give up completely.

"If enough residents are concerned and bring it up to commissioners, the study might be revisited," Miller said.

Luis F. Perez covers Boca Raton and can be reached at lfperez@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6641. Rhonda J. Miller covers Highland Beach and can be reached at rjmiller@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6605.